Chapter 45: 3-2: School
Disclaimer: Being neither British nor Japanese, it should therefore come as no surprise that I own neither Harry Potter nor Naruto, nor anything from their respective franchises.
Much of the remaining summer passed without incident. There had been another joint birthday party for Neville and Harry at the Longbottom house, this time thankfully with no interruptions or complications. Wendell and Monica Granger had come along for the party this year, and had gotten their first look at the inside of a magical home. The question of whether or not to invite Ginny had been rendered moot, as the Weasleys had won an annual prize draw from the Daily Prophet and had used a portion of their winnings to gather the entire family on a trip to Egypt to visit Bill. Given Ginny's response to her oldest brother's visit after the Chamber incident, Iruka was glad she'd be spending more time with the young man; it could only help in her recovery from her ordeal.
On his next visit to the Granger home, the chuunin was confronted by a large ginger cat with a squashed-looking face. The feline seemed to scrutinize him briefly before turning and strutting back into the house with a flick of its bottle-brush tail. Hermione informed him that this miniature tiger was a half-kneazle named Crookshanks, that she had picked him up in Diagon Alley, and that he would be accompanying her to Hogwarts. She was also under the somewhat perplexing impression that he was cute and adorable.
It was at the end-of-summer staff meeting that Iruka first met Remus Lupin face-to-face. Despite being in his early thirties the wizard looked closer to the chuunin's age, his mousy brown hair streaked with grey and his pale, scarred face lined from worry and stress. It was a clear demonstration of the harsh toll lycanthropy took on a sufferer's body. His shabby clothing spoke of financial hardships as well, likely due to the endemic prejudice against werewolves. In spite of this, Lupin had a quiet friendliness about him, warmly greeting many of his fellow staff prior to the meeting.
The meeting itself was largely uneventful, save for the announcement of their newest Defense Professor and that Silvanus Kettleburn would be retiring with Hagrid taking his place teaching Care of Magical Creatures. Given the large man's fondness for dangerous creatures, and his naïveté about the threat they posed to people without his durability, Iruka offered his help in preparing and running classes until Hagrid had the hang of things. The last thing they needed, he thought to himself, was something like a dragon or a nundu being brought in for the Third Year classes.
As things were breaking up, Professor Lupin hailed Iruka, asking for his perspective on how Harry was doing. The chuunin shared some brief anecdotes from the past two years, sticking to those that didn't reveal any secrets. Before they parted, he made his own inquiry: "I was hoping we could speak a bit about Sirius Black." The scowl he got in response made it clear that this was a touchy subject for the werewolf, though that was hardly a surprise given the circumstances. "It'll be easier to defend Harry against him if I know more about the man - his capabilities, his skills, his strengths and weaknesses, his personality, and his likely goals and mindset."
"Black is, or at least was, a very capable wizard," Lupin replied. "If it required a wand, he was generally quite good at it, getting high scores on his O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s in Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense, along with Care of Magical Creatures, and he was no slouch as a duelist. If he's able to get his hands on a wand, he'll be very dangerous. For strengths, probably his ruthlessness and unpredictability, while recklessness would be his biggest weak point. As far as personality or mindset, I'm not sure I can really venture much; he was always fairly erratic and unpredictable, and that was before spending a dozen years surrounded by Dementors. There's also the fact that he clearly had all of us fooled for years, even those who were closest to him. I always thought that he and James were like brothers in all but blood, that Sirius hated Voldemort and the Dark Arts..."
"I know what it feels like," Iruka reassured him sadly, drifting off into recollection. "A colleague of mine, Touji Mizuki, was one of my closest friends. He had been for years, really. Then one day, he tricked one of our students into stealing a forbidden scroll full of dangerous secret techniques. I was the first one to find Naruto, the student, just before Mizuki tried to kill him. Apparently the man I thought was my friend had been plotting to steal the scroll and betray our village to its enemies, framing and murdering a thirteen-year-old boy in the process. He tried to kill both of us, and probably would have succeeded if Naruto hadn't done the impossible and beaten him with one of the techniques from the scroll, having somehow learned it in a matter of hours. That night revealed my best friend as a traitor, but it also marked the beginning for one of the most remarkable young men I've ever taught."
He continued, "I know the pain of having someone so close betray not only you, but everything you value and stand for, everything they themselves had fought to protect. It's been over twenty years, but that night is still one of the most pivotal points in my life."
Lupin looked shocked. "I suppose you do, at that," he finally said after several moments. "As much as I hate bringing this up, Albus said he was going to inform you of my... condition?"
Iruka nodded. "He told me several weeks ago. Why do you ask?"
"You seem strangely comfortable and friendly. Not many people are so at ease in the presence of a werewolf. Even people that have known me for years are still a bit wary around me, flinching if I get too close, but you're treating me like you do everyone else. It's not exactly something I'm used to."
"Professor Lupin, I have known, taught, and worked with and for people far more frightening than you are. I assume Albus was fairly light with the details of my background?"
"Yes," said the soft-spoken werewolf, "he mentioned you were from an isolated and presently unreachable region where magic is used differently, but he wasn't exactly forthcoming with more information. Then again," he added with a wry smile, "it's not exactly his place to go telling your life story, is it?"
"No, no it's not," Iruka chuckled. "Where I'm from, there are a set of nine powerful beings known as the 'bijuu', or Tailed Beasts. They're generally larger than the biggest dragons, and could obliterate a town the size of Hogsmeade in seconds. One of them attacked my village when I was young, and even the full might of our military could do little more than stall it; the attack caused terrible damage and killed a lot of people, including my parents."
"While we now know that they're all of at least human intelligence, and not inherently malevolent, bijuu used to be viewed as creatures of pure wrath and destruction. This, combined with some people's desire for power, led those people to seal the bijuu away. Before you ask, no, I'm nowhere near that level in my skills or power. Anyway, the most common vessels for containing bijuu were human beings. These hosts were known as 'jinchuuriki', which roughly translates to 'the power of human sacrifice' - in essence, they were considered to be a person sacrificed in order to lock away a bijuu. They protected their villages twice over - by locking away a dangerous creature, and by wielding the tremendous power they gained from their prisoner."
"Unfortunately," he continued, "jinchuuriki were rarely well-treated. Their tremendous power, one that they often had only partial control over, left them feared by many. Village leaders often considered jinchuuriki to be nothing more than weapons, powerful engines of destruction to be aimed at their enemies. Many people, out of ignorance, simply identified them with the beast they contained. That student I mentioned, Naruto? The bijuu that attacked our village hit on the night he was born, and his parents sacrificed their lives to seal it into their newborn son. Even though his status was supposed to be kept secret, it was something of an open secret within the village, which led to him being shunned and ostracized by almost everyone throughout his childhood. They all treated him as if he was the beast he contained, and directed all their hate and their grief from the attack straight at an innocent child that had no idea why everyone was so cruel to him."
"Naruto is one of my favorite former students, the current leader of our village, and the father of the boy that I'm fairly certain is responsible for accidentally sending me to Britain. I've seen him at his most dangerous, unleashing his full power against a man that appeared to have just killed the woman Naruto would go on to marry. It was easily one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, right up there with the night I saw the bijuu unleashed against our village. So I'm sorry, Professor Lupin," he grinned cheekily, "but your little once-a-month wolf problem just isn't all that scary to me."
Lupin's mouth opened and closed soundlessly several times before he finally managed to croak out, "I really need to have a chat with the Headmaster..."
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As August ended, Sirius Black remained at large. This meant that, despite the fervent hopes of the staff (and quite a lot of students and others) the morning of the first of September saw the arrival of scores of Dementors surrounding Hogwarts. The first indication Iruka got of their approach was what he could only describe as a dark tingle at the edge of his awareness, a slight triggering of that danger sense that every veteran shinobi developed. Soon after that began, the sun seemed to become increasingly dim and cool, and gazing southward showed a mass of indistinct black shapes approaching the castle grounds. As they grew closer, the air took on a definite chill, and the chuunin could feel an almost genjutsu-like effect trying to twist his emotional state towards fear and despair.
Fortunately that was as bad as it got, as the monsters reached the edge of Hogwarts' wards and began to spread out around the school. While sadly the school's wards were unable to keep them out by force, they did at least mark a boundary they were forbidden from crossing: Headmaster Dumbledore had staunchly refused to allow the soul-sucking fiends onto the school's grounds or into the castle, though he clearly would have preferred they not get anywhere near the students. The Dementors eventually settled mostly into clusters, their attention focused at the various entrances with individuals and smaller groups ranging about. Still, a faint touch of their draining effect remained on everyone in the castle.
This was going to be a hard year.
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The students filing into the Great Hall for the Welcoming Feast were far more subdued than they'd been the previous two years. Many were looking pale and shaken, with the members of S.E.N. seeming to be among the worst-off. Professor Lupin, who had ridden the Express for security reasons, had shared a compartment with the five and reported that Dementors had stopped and searched the train. One of the black-cloaked abominations had apparently taken a particular interest in their compartment, and Harry had been especially badly affected, to the point of passing out briefly.
After the Sorting, Headmaster Dumbledore's usually jovial attitude fell away as he warned about the threat posed by the Dementors in one of the direst tones Iruka had ever heard him use. For those students that had seen the man for a couple years at least, this unaccustomed seriousness hammered home the importance of his point at least as much as his words did.
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Iruka stood by Hagrid outside the new Care Professor's hut, waiting for the students to arrive for the man's first ever class as a teacher. The chuunin would be functioning as an assistant and occasional advisor, letting his colleague take the lead. It was the third-year Gryffindors and Slytherins (that same volatile combination again), and he planned to open with one of the more spectacular creatures for the year. Hippogriffs weren't the most harmless of creatures, but they were impressive and reasonably safe as long as one followed a few simple rules: Show them respect, maintain eye contact, bow before approaching, and back away if they don't bow back. Hagrid had coached him on this, and introduced him to the herd, prior to the lesson.
Things didn't start on the most promising of notes, as it turned out that even the textbook Hagrid had chosen was animate and aggressive. "Use it as a reminder that even dangerous creatures can be safe and helpful if you handle them properly," Iruka advised the students after the new Professor told them how to calm their texts, shooting the large man a pointed look to hint that he should be the one delivering this message in future classes.
Harry quickly gained the approval of the Hippogriff he was presented to, and even got a surprise bit of flying time in courtesy of Hagrid; Iruka would talk to the man after class about asking first. After this successful demonstration, the rest of the students were allowed to gradually trickle forward to take their own turns. The original plan had been to just let them forth to mingle with the herd, but the chuunin had advised keeping tighter control over things at least until the Professor got some more experience.
It turned out to be Draco Malfoy who demonstrated the wisdom of Iruka's counsel on the matter, as he proceeded to do exactly what the students had so recently been told not to do and directly insulted the same Hippogriff that had borne Harry aloft. Unsurprisingly to anyone with more brains than hair gel, the creature reared up angrily and slashed at the arrogant boy with its talons.
Iruka had begun moving almost as soon as the blonde nitwit had opened his mouth, and was easily able to get him clear of the danger zone unharmed while Hagrid moved in to corral the offended creature. "Twenty points from Slytherin for disobeying instructions, Mister Malfoy," the chuunin angrily barked out, "and a week's detention for endangering yourself and others and disrupting the lesson. You were explicitly told not to insult the Hippogriffs under any circumstances, and yet you decided to do exactly that at the first opportunity. In the future, if a Professor warns you against a course of action, listen to them!"
The Malfoy scion gaped in shock, though whether over the fact that he'd been attacked or the dressing-down he'd just received was anyone's guess. Finally gathering himself he glared at the Adjunct Professor in outrage. "When my father hears of this-"
"He will probably be wondering how his son failed to follow even simple instructions," the chuunin cut him off coldly. "And that will be another five points from Slytherin for your backtalk. If you cannot be bothered to take direction from your Professors, it begs the question of why you are even here. Rest assured that I will be informing Professor Snape of both your actions and your disrespect. Since you are clearly incapable of behaving yourself, you will spend the rest of this lesson reading from your textbook."
"Yeh'll be gettin' a zero fer the day, too, Malfoy," called Hagrid as he returned from calming the herd. "Keep it up an' yeh'll have ter find another class ter take; I won't have yeh puttin' yerself an' others in danger 'cause yeh can't do as yeh're told."
Scowling and grumbling, the young Slytherin stomped over to a nearby tree and sat down with a sneer, before attempting to read from his textbook without calming it first. After seeing him struggle for a bit, one of his housemates hesitantly reminded him to stroke the book's spine, and received an angry rebuke for their trouble before the boy grudgingly followed their advice. The rest of the class passed without further incident, though many of the students were noticeably more timid around the Hippogriffs now that they'd seen a clear demonstration that they were neither harmless nor placid.
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Professor Snape was certainly unhappy (well, more so than usual) at the report of his student's behavior. "I will be sure to remind Mister Malfoy of the dangers of ignoring his instructors," he drawled angrily, "and inform his parents myself to ensure they receive an accurate report of events. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."
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The following Thursday, Harry's class was introduced to a Boggart in Defense Against the Dark Arts. This particular Dark creature was a shapeshifter that fed on fear, and thus took the form of whatever would scare the target most. The defense, apparently, was a specific charm that would alter the form taken according to the caster's will - as laughter was somehow painful to Boggarts, the goal was to force it into a form you found funny rather than scary. Hermione was the only S.E.N. member to face the creature during their class; for her it took the form of Minerva McGonagall telling her she'd failed all her classes and was being expelled. Her counter caused the false Minerva to begin meowing like a cat and playing with a toy mouse. Professor Lupin informed Harry and Neville after the class that he felt it best that neither Lord Voldemort nor Bellatrix Lestrange make a sudden appearance in front of a bunch of students. Iruka had been impressed to hear that Harry thought it would much more likely take the form of a Dementor for him. When asked for suggestions on how to make a Dementor funny, something Harry was really struggling with, the chuunin's best idea at the time was to turn its cloak bright orange.
A/N: Yes, they're still celebrating Hermione's birthday. Since not a lot has changed, recounting the little party wouldn't be very interesting - this isn't Harry Crow with its elaborate birthdays.
I changed what Hermione did to her Boggart because the canonical version wasn't funny, just less threatening. I'd like to think that my version would be worth at least a chuckle from those witnessing.
Fic Recommendation: "A Thin Veneer" by AlbertG - It's gone a long time without updating, but it's still an impressive Star Trek / Babylon 5 crossover.
Posted 18 November 2018
Current WIP Chapter: 69